The Opening Tip:
* Winner of two straight, No. 7 seed Lafayette (5-7) travels north to face No. 2 Boston U. (10-2) in the Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinal. The lone 2021 matchup between the two teams was a seven-point Terrier victory. 

* The Leopards are coming off a pair of wins over Loyola on Feb. 27-28, a team Lafayette played four times in 2021. The Leopards placed thee players in double figures in the regular-season finale, led by 15 from Jess Booth, 12 from Natalie Kucowski and a 10-spot from Natalie Ganpo. Lafayette shot 51 percent from the floor. 

* Senior Natalie Kucowski posted the 53rd double-double of her career, dropping in 12 points with 13 rebounds vs. Loyola. She is approaching another career milestone, needing seven rebounds to become the Patriot League's career leader.   

* Natalie Kucowski was named the Patriot League Player of the Year and the league's Defensive Player of the Year (an honor she won in 2019-20). Kucowski is the second player to win both awards in a season. Freshman Makayla Andrews joined her, garnering conference honors, as the freshman was selected for the the All-Rookie Team.

Patriot League Plaudits
Lafayette senior forward Natalie Kucowski has been tabbed as the Patriot League Women's Basketball Player of the Year and the Defensive Player of the Year. She is the first Lafayette women's basketball player to be selected as the Player of the Year and just the second player in conference history to have earned the honors simultaneously. Lehigh's Erica Prosser accomplished the feat in 2010-11.
    Kucowski has been sensational for the Leopards throughout her career, but especially so in her senior campaign. She leads the Maroon and White in scoring (17.5 ppg) and rebounding (13.2 rpg).
     Freshman Makayla Andrews earned a spot on the Patriot League All-Rookie Team. The rookie saw action in all 12 games for Lafayette this season, putting up 4.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per contest. In recognition of her career-high eight points with three rebounds and two blocks in Lafayette's bout with Lehigh on Sunday, she was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week.

Academic Honors
Senior guard Drew Freeland has been named to the Academic All-Patriot League Team. Freeland is a Mechanical Engineering major who has posted a 3.69 GPA. She has averaged 8.8 points per game and 3.9 rebounds per game while shooting .447 from beyond the arc. The Roanoke, Va. native has started every game this season and 100 in her career. She ranks second in the league in three-point field goal percentage (.447), ninth in the league in minutes played (34.5 per game) and 11th in the league in three-point field goals made. She leads the Leopards with 17 three-pointers. 

All Aboard
Natalie Kucowski needs seven rebounds to become the Patriot League's all-time leading rebounder. Kucowski, who has collected 1,182 career caroms, is looking to pass Holy Cross' Lauren Manis '19 (1,188).  Kucowski, who is the only player in Lafayette history to rip down 1,000 or more rebounds, leads the nation with 13.2 rebounds per outing. 

Scouting Boston U.
The Terriers enters Sunday's Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal game with a 10-2 record and the No. 2 overall seed. 
    They team returned five starters from its 2019-20 campaign. Senior guard Katie Nelson leads a balanced scoring attack for BU, averaging 12.6 points per game to go along with a league-best 4.3 assists per game and a 2.3 assist/turnover ratio. She is one of six players averaging seven or more points per game.
    BU leads the Patriot League in rebounding margin +9.1 (the only team ahead of Lafayette at 5.2) and field goal percentage (46.2). Defensively, the Terriers are allowing a conference-best 52 points per game.

Leopards' Last  Time Out 
Lafayette beat Loyola for the sixth straight time, this time by a score of 70-45 on Feb. 28. 
     Sophomore Jess Booth led the way for the Leopards with a career-high 15 points. She added three rebounds, four assists and three steals to her stat line. Joining Booth in double figures was senior Natalie Kucowski who totaled 12 points and 13 rebounds, marking her 53rd career double double. Junior Naomi Ganpo also found herself in double figures with 10 points, going a perfect 4-4 and 2-2 from the charity stripe.
     The Leopards trailed 30-29 at halftime, but took over in the second half. Booth hit her first three of the game to put the Leopards up 32-30. The squads traded buckets until a 6-0 scoring run by the Leopards, sparked by a jumper from Ganpo, started to create some distance.
    Kucowski and Sydney Sabino put in back-to-back threes to stretch the Leopards' lead to 10. Junior Nicole Johnson drew a foul and made both of her extra shots to put the Leopards up by 12 with 2:54 left in the third quarter.
    Lafayette finished off Loyola in the final quarter, holding the Greyhounds scoreless for nearly five minutes before the eventual 25-point margin (the largest winning margin of the season). 

Last Meting with Boston U.
    Boston U. outscored Lafayette 23-8 in the fourth quarter to claim a 53-46 win on Feb. 7 in Kirby Sports Center.
    Senior Natalie Kucowski led the way with 10 points and seven rebounds. Junior Naomi Ganpo, in her first career start, totaled eight points and three rebounds. Sophomore Jess Booth totaled seven points. Senior Drew Freeland totaled five points and a team-high eight rebounds.
    Lafayette led 38-30 at the end of the third quarter, sparked by Kucowksi's three-pointer with two minutes left in the session. 
    Boston U. and held Lafyette scoreless for the first seven minutes of the fourth.  The Terriers outscored Lafayette 23-8. Back-to-back layups by Kucowski brought the score to 47-43 with a minute left to play before the Terriers ran off six more to end the game.

It's a Block Party...And You're Invited
    Lafayette leads the Patriot League in blocked shots, averaging 5.1 per game. Natalie Kucowski (2.9 bpg) and Naomi Ganpo (1.5 bpg) rank first and third, respectively, in the Patriot League. Ganpo is coming of a career-high five blocks against Loyola in the regular-season finale. 

Movin' On Up
With 1,394 points, Natalie Kucowski ranks fourth in career scoring at Lafayette. She needs just six points to overtake Colleen Fitzpatrick '04 (1,399) for fourth place after recently passing Vanessa Van De Venter '08 (1,381).

Patriot League Postseason Picture
The winner of Sunday's quarterfinal matchup will play the winner of the No. 6 Army vs. No. 3 American game. The semifinal will be Thursday and the championship game is slated for Sunday. All Patriot League Tournament games are being played at the higher seed.